Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Development Plan 1.Product & Releases, evolution (Time line) 2.Features roll out 3.System architecture 4.Make buy decision 5.Technology selection 6.Resources (Lab, Organization) 7.Product cost, R&D cost 8.Technology & development Risk & mitigation plan 9.Development processes 10.Product verification & QA strategy. 11.Project plan 12.Customer Engagement plan 13.Manufacturing support plan 14.Multi-release concurrent development 15.Customer support & product sustaining 16.Intellectual Property & protection

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Product Releases 1.Vision vs. releases 2.Example: Sonus:Vision is Packet voice network evolution Money generating release1: Internet offload 3.Reasons for multiple releases 1.Early revenue 2.Customer engagement 3.Risk mitigation 4.Gaining market mindset 5.Fund raising 4.Disadvantages 1.Inefficient development and operation 2.Managing concurrent multiple releases

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Development plan (cont) 1.Releases Time line 1.High level release dates 1.Requirement, design, alpha, Beta, GA 2.Driver for each release (customer engagement, revenue, profit, volume) 3.Migration plan 4.Highlight the accuracy of the projected dates 2.Features roll out 3.System architecture 1.Platform vs. single-function 2.Product evolution 3.Visible interfaces, modularity

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Make Buy Decision Options for product development 1.Developed internally 2.Jointly develop a component with a partner & integrate in your product 3.Contract its development outside (custom design) & integrate in your product 4.Buy as finished-goods component & integrate in your product 5.License its use as a finished goods & integrate in your product 6.OEM as a finished goods & system-integrate in your product

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Partnership rule Understand your competitive strength Build ROI-centric and low-empire building mindset Services are available outside your company Employee satisfaction if they work on mission critical stuff For every partnership decision, (In-source vs. outsource): –In-source the tasks with the highest ROI and lowest risk –Questions to ask: How much investment for In-source How much return  ROI Is it my core competencies (likely to succeed ; RISK) Size of the task and ease of partnership and integration Critical dependency on the target task Criterion –Product cost –R&D Cost economics –Availability –Core competency –Time to market –Performance

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Technology selection Major Technologies that critically impact product cost development cost risk Their selection enables many other decisions to be made Lab recruiting Examples: Operating systems CPU Protocol stacks Board to board communication Circuit assembly ASIC vs. FPGA vs. off the shelf Tightly coupled to system architecture

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Organization Strength Design, SW, HW, architecture, program execution Organization track record Infrastructure support staff requirement Tools, Lab tech, load build, mechanical, IT Labs requirement H/W & S/W Development, Product verification & Alpha Design tool Source code control, schematic capture, simulation,.. Team history through complete development cycles Team adherence to Process (documentation and reviews) Organization structure - Inter organization group (inter hardware, inter software) - Inter division (inter development) - Cross functional group Development Organization

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Product Cost Consists of –Electronic components –PCB & connectors –Power unit –Package (box, screws, bezels, cooling unit) –Software license –Package, data sheet –Manufacturing assembly, component handling, test, overhead Manufacturing Yield and impact on cost –Repair –Yield improvement Cost reduction –Procurement –Design

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Risk Management Sources of Risk –Technology Risk Un-expected performance –New immature components (released unreported bugs, poor QA, poor doc) –Use components in new untested applications Lack of understanding –Design too complicated to understand & manage (try and error) –Miss understanding for components’ capabilities –Management Risk Suppliers, partners fulfilling their commitment Big project management Team performance Mitigation –Prototyping, simulation –Emphasis on front end work –Matching human skill to complexity –Plan B 1.Create culture 2.Identify 3.Quantify 4.Mitigate 5.Integrate in your plan

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Development Process Development processes 1.Why needed 1.Communication 2.Mixed skill-level team 3.Repeatability 4.Quality 2.Why not 1.Overhead if added after the fact 2.Overhead if not accepted 3.Overhead.. Period... 3.How much do you need for each phase of the development team

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Development Backend Product Verification –Functional –Conformance –Environmental –Alpha Manufacturing support plan –In-source vs. outsource –Procurement –Component Obsolescence –Test program development –Yield improvement

Sami Aly Issues in Telecommunications3 February 2002 Development (cont.) 1.Customer Engagement plan 2.Multi-release concurrent development 3.Customer support & product sustaining 1.Not most attractive task for some engineers 2.It can be the make / break to keep customer loyalty 3.Good means to understand customer requirement 4.Separation or not of organization between new product development and sustaining 5.Key thing is not to be surprised after the fact 6.Plan for it: organizational, financial, architectural 4.Intellectual Property & protection 1.Patent 1.Not to be stopped from using your property 2.To stop others from steeling from you 3.To collect royalty 2.Publication 3.Stay quite 4.Infringing on others’ IP